The reason why I smile
by EmbraceTheMystery
Summary: Gabrily modern day AU, in which Cecily asks Gabriel to come to her family s Christmas party to piss off Will. Rated T to be safe. Picture cred to the person who made that edit (Found on Tumblr)
1. A deal

Chapter 1: A Deal

Gabriel Lightwood sat in the library of the Lightwood manor. He was studying for his final exams, since it was his last year at school, when the door opened and the maid came in to announce that there was a visitor waiting for him in the foyer. Gabriel was surprised since he wasn´t expecting any visitors. When he came in to the foyer he was even more surprised to find Cecily Herondale standing there. Cecily looked up when she heard him coming down the stairs. She had a neutral face expression which caused Gabriel to wonder what she could want.

Gabriel had a long history of mutual loathing with Cecily´s brother Will, ever since they were boys and Will had insulted Gabriel´s sister. Of course Cecily had nothing to do with that but she was a Herondale so Gabriel had always kept his distance from her and assumed she was like her brother. Cecily was also younger than him so he had nothing to do with her. He doubted they had ever had a conversation, and yet here she was in his family house´s foyer to speak with him. She was 2 years younger than him, but in her black skin-tight jeans, her blue top and her black leather jacket, she looked like she could be his age. Gabriel himself wore dark blue jeans and a black shirt.

"What do you want, Herondale?" he snarled and Cecily smirked.  
" I need you to accompany me to my family´s Christmas party." She said it very matter-of-factly, as if they would go to parties together a lot.  
Gabriel frowned. "And why would I do that? You do realise that I´m not exactly a family friend." Cecily nodded and answered in that same calm town of voice.  
"I know. Which is exactly why I asked you. My family, especially Will have been inquiring about my love life lately." At the mention of Will´s name, Gabriel rolled his eyes. "I don´t have a boyfriend, but they refuse to believe that so they asked me to bring my boyfriend to our Christmas party. I could of course ask one of my friends, but that would be no fun at all." She smiled mischievously. Gabriel crossed his muscular arms over his chest and frowned.  
"I guess it would be funny to see William´s reaction. But why would I do that? I´m not exactly fond of your family, so I´m not sure I´d want to spend a whole evening with them just to piss off your brother." He said.  
"I propose a deal." Cecily said.  
"A deal. What kind of deal?"  
"I´ve talked to your brother and he has told me that you find your family´s Christmas parties incredibly boring. If you were to accompany me you could escape that. You don´t have to stay long either. My family already thinks you´re rude so you might as well leave early, and of course I´m willing to offer you a favour in return." Cecily explained.  
Gabriel took his time considering this. "I do hate my father´s Christmas parties... What kind of favour are you offering?"  
"Well, the most obvious favour would be to accompany you to a family gathering and to pretend to be your girlfriend." Cecily said.  
"I guess you could accompany me to our New Years Eve party. My father has been asking about a girlfriend. Better I bring you than he tries to hook me up with someone... Fine. I go to your Christmas party; you come to my New Years Eve party. Deal?" Gabriel asked.  
"Deal." Cecily said, smiling. She pulled a crumpled piece of Paper out of her pocket. "Your invitation. Wear something nice." She said as she walked to the door and let herself out. "See you there." She called over her shoulder. "Mmmh" Gabriel muttered, making his way back upstairs. What had he just agreed to?

 **AN: So I read Clockwork Princess, so I can now write tid fanfic as well. I hope you like it. If you do please leave a review. I might continue this but I don´t know when so it may take a while. Sorry ;) XOXO SillyGeekyMe**

 **Disclaimer: Characters belong to Cassandra Clare.**


	2. Christmas

Chapter 2: Christmas

On Christmas eve, the Herondale house was always full of people. The whole family was there, and all the family friends. The children were running around, the older relatives were sat on a couch chatting and William Herondale was leaning against the fireplace casually. He was talking to his fiancée, Tessa. It was his first Christmas without his best friend Jem, which darkened his mood. Surprisingly, Cecily was the life of the party. She was standing near the entrance and greeting every guest that came in. Will scowled. Usually Cecily hated all of her distant relatives showing up once a year just to comment on how tall she had become and give her a hug causing her to smell like old people at the end of the night.  
"What´s wrong?" Tessa asked. She had probably seen the change in his expression. Will pointed at Cecily, who was holding her great-aunt Elizabeth´s hands and nodding at something Elizabeth was saying.  
"Cecy is unusually cheerful. She normally hates these parties." Tessa smiled.  
"Didn´t you say her boyfriend was gonna come?" she asked.  
Will was shocked at what she was implying. Could Cecily be happy just because she had invited a boy? Will hadn´t believed that she actually had a boyfriend and only told her to invite someone in order to mock her. Before he could reply, Aunt Elizabeth spotted him and crushed him in a hug. "Oh Will you´ve grown so much!" she exclaimed. Will smiled and introduced Tessa.  
When his great-aunt had moved on he answered Tessa´s question.  
"Yes but I didn´t expect her to actually have a boyfriend." Tessa smiled and shook her head.

~*~

Cecily hated Christmas parties. But this year she did not sulk in the corner, sipping Champaign. This year she was greeting the guests. She didn´t care about the guests but she wanted to be the first to say hello to Gabriel. If he actually came. The invitation said 7 o´clock, and it was already 7:15. Maybe he wouldn´t come. Had she been foolish to ask him? Maybe Will was right and Gabriel was a bastard after all. When she was about to get some Champaign, Gabriel entered the room. He was dressed in a posh white shirt with a dark green tie and black pants. Cecily walked towards him and hugged him. She felt him stiffen. She whispered in his ear "Hug me back! You´re my boyfriend for today." He closed his arms around her reluctantly and pretended to laugh at what she had just said. When they broke out of the hug Cecily took his hand and led him to a sofa in a corner.  
"And now smile and wait till Will sees you." She said, smiling.  
It did not take long for Will to notice them.  
"What are you doing here, Lightworm?" Will asked, glaring daggers at Gabriel.  
"I´m celebrating Christmas with my lovely girlfriend." He indicated Cecily with his hand. Cecily was surprised at how convincing he sounded. Will kept glaring at Gabriel as he said:  
"Cecily. Outside. Now!" Cecily got up slowly and said:  
"Excuse me Gabriel." Gabriel nodded politely and leaned back on the sofa. 

As soon as they were outside Will started yelling.  
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF GOD IS THAT LIGHTWORM DOING HERE?!"  
Cecily answered in a very calm voice.  
"I invited him. You suggested that I bring my boyfriend and I did so I don´t see why you´re yelling at me."  
Will shook his head in exasperation.  
"Cecy, he´s just using you to get back at me for what I did to his sister! Don´t believe anything he says to you!" he told her.  
Now it was Cecily´s turn to look exasperated.  
"Not everything is about you Will! Now excuse me as I spent Christmas with my boyfriend."  
Cecily went back inside and had to hide the grin that was spreading across her face.

She found Gabriel on the couch where she had left him, engaged in a conversation with her Grandma.  
Cecily sat on the arm of the sofa, as her Grandma had taken her place next to Gabriel. Gabriel was telling her Grandma about what he planned to do after school. Cecily sat next to him quietly and looked at his face. He was really quite handsome. The more he talked the less she had to pretend to like him.

When her Grandma finally left them alone, Gabriel scooted over so Cecily could sit on the sofa without getting up.  
"So what did Will say?" he inquired, sounding bored.  
"He said you were using me to get back at him for what he did to Tatiana." Cecily sounded equally bored, since it had been her plan.  
"I´ll admit that was one of the main reasons I agreed to come. I do enjoy how it puts Will off to see us together." He said. Cecily nodded.  
"Yeah, me too." They sat together in silence for a minute. Then Gabriel said:  
"You look lovely, you know." Cecily smirked. She was wearing a black dress, blue high-heels and too much eyeliner. She had her hair open and it tumbled down her back in smooth curls.  
"I know. You look handsome yourself." Gabriel blushed slightly, which caused Cecily to notice the great structure of his cheekbones.  
"Has anyone asked you how we met yet?" Cecily asked, trying to prevent that they tell different stories.  
" Yes. I said that we´d met through mutual friends. Your family is nice by the way, except for Will." He said.  
"Will can be nice, too. If he´s not insulting your sister." Cecily told him and Gabriel chuckled.  
"Maybe, but I doubt that we´ll ever be friends."  
"Maybe. Oh no, uncle Rupert is drunk again… He always does that." Cecily said.  
"Really? Tell me about your family. I´m curious." Said Gabriel.  
"Okay. That´s my Grandpa´s sister, Ruth, she´s a bit mad but I always liked her…"

For the rest of the evening Cecily talked about all the members of her family, occasionally stopping when someone wanted to talk to her or Gabriel. By the end of the night, Cecily and Gabriel decided to go for a walk together…

 **AN: Wow that was a long one. Anyway, I hope you like it, please leave a review if you did like it and tell me if you want the next chapter to be the rest of their conversation and the rest of the night or if you want the next chapter to be their midnight stroll. I think I´m making Will a bit too antagonistic, what do you think? Xoxo, SillyGeekyMe**

 **Disclaimer: Characters belong to Cassandra Clare.**


	3. Midnight stroll

Chapter 3: Midnight stroll

As Cecily and Gabriel got up, Cecily saw Will glaring at them. She took Gabriel´s hand in reply. Cecily said goodbye to her parents in rapid welsh and Gabriel thanked them for the invitation and said goodbye. When they left, Cecily dropped Gabriel´s hand. She found his hand in hers had been a pleasant sensation, but she didn´t want to push herself onto him. Gabriel turned his collar up against the wind. Cecily opened the umbrella she had brought outside. Somehow, it was always raining on Christmas.

"Thank you for agreeing to come. I had fun tonight." Cecily said as they walked.  
"My pleasure. I had fun as well." Gabriel answered.  
"Will has to learn to let the past go. He never bothers to get to know the people he hates. He´s so unforgiving. It gets boring rather fast." Cecily said.  
"Well, I don´t exactly have an urge to get to know your brother. Once you start loathing someone it´s quite hard to stop." Gabriel retorted.  
They walked in silence for a while, Cecily having to walk fast to keep up with the strides of Gabriel´s long legs. Cecily was used to that. Everyone was taller than her, it was annoying, but Cecily figured she couldn´t change it anyway.

Gabriel looked at Cecily´s face which was turned to the ground. Her eyes were as blue as Will´s but they were different in some ways. They were very round, rounder than Will´s and rimmed with dark lashes. She was wearing black eye makeup, smudged during the evening, which caused the blue of her eyes to stand out even more. Her dark eyebrows were shaped in an arch and her nose was slightly turned up at the end. Her jaw was set and her chin, even when she was looking down, was tilted upward. Gabriel was surprised at how beautiful she looked. Her lips had been dark red at the beginning of the evening but after drinking Champaign and eating stuff from the buffet the colour had faded to a light pink. Gabriel wanted to say something, to talk to her, get to know her, but he didn´t know what he could say. He felt like whatever he could say would be stupid or irrelevant. He wasn´t used to this kind of feeling. Normally he said whatever he thought but he couldn´t just do that now.  
"You´re beautiful." Had he just said that out loud? Had he actually said that? Dread washed over him as she looked up questioningly.  
"Do you actually mean that?" she asked. She looked uncertain, disbelieving, like she´d never hear someone honestly tell her that, or like she didn´t believe him. Maybe she did believe that he had just agreed to the deal to get back at Will, but _had_ he? He didn´t think so, he was a Lightwood, he wouldn´t stoop so low as to use an innocent girl for revenge. But what other reason had he had to agree? He was so lost in thought he almost forgot to answer her question.  
"Yes" he whispered. Cecily smiled slightly.  
"Thanks." She muttered, looking away again.

Cecily wanted to slap herself. She was usually not shy; she could talk to anyone and look them in the eye boldly. But with Gabriel, it was different. When he said something nice to her her stomach tightened and she felt like she had cramps, but it wasn´t painful at all. It was pleasant. She couldn´t understand it at all. She had never had such feelings. It was as if he had put some sort of spell on her. They walked in silence again. Cecily wanted to say something equally as nice to him but she didn´t dare, which was also strange because she usually did whatever she wanted.

None of them had really had a destination in mind when they started walking; still every road in London seemed to end at the river Thames eventually. Cecily loved the river, no matter how dirty it was; to her it was always beautiful. It reminded her of the flowing rivers and the still lakes in Wales, where she had grown up. In Wales everything had looked natural the next city was an hour away, but here in London, the only thing natural was the Thames. Gabriel and she went to the stone wall on the side of the river. Cecily swung herself onto it and let her legs dangle. Gabriel hesitated, then sat next to her on the wet wall.

"Do you like the river?" asked Cecily.  
"I never thought about it. It´s just a river. It´s there but I don´t like or dislike it. Do you?" Gabriel said.  
"I like it. It´s not as beautiful as the rivers in Wales, but it brings a sort of balance to the city. A bit of nature among all the buildings." Cecily explained.  
Gabriel nodded. He understood what she meant even if he´d never been to Wales. He looked around at the people hurrying through the streets.  
"Why don´t you have a boyfriend?" Gabriel asked. He was as surprised as she was by the question.  
"What?" Cecily asked. She had a bit of laughter in her voice, like she couldn´t believe he´d asked that.  
"I mean, you told me that you brought me today because you don´t have an actual boyfriend, but I´ve seen you at school, you have so many friends, why is none of them you boyfriend?" Gabriel asked. Cecily thought about the question.  
There were a lot of boys in their boarding school that she´d considered, but all the boys she´d ever actually gone on a date with had been immature assholes. She had male friends, but they were all just friends to her.  
"The boys my age are so immature. They´re fun as friends but they´re not what I would look for in a relationship. I´ve seen what happens when people my age date one another and it never works out." She paused and looked at Gabriel. When she looked into his green eyes her stomach cramped again. "I see Will and Tessa and how they love each other and I know I want that, but none of my friends would love me like that." She confessed. She hadn´t told this to anyone but she felt like she could trust Gabriel, which was odd, considering her brother´s hatred for him. Gabriel nodded. "I know what you mean." He said. Cecily was surprised. She had always assumed that she was the only one who had such thoughts and that it was because she was simply too picky.

She smiled at Gabriel with a glint of mischief in her eyes. Gabriel scowled as she closed her umbrella and let it fall to the ground.  
"What are you doing?" He asked, concerned.  
"I´m performing" she answered, which confused him to no end.  
"Performing what?" he asked. When he turned to look at her he was surprised to see her standing on the stone wall. The river raged on one said of her and the cold pavement waited on the other side. Gabriel looked at her blue high heels, unsure of what to do.  
"Cecily, get down." He said. She smiled down at him but shook her head. She started walking away and Gabriel wondered whether she was going to jump into the river. Then he wondered if she actually was crazy.  
"Cecily what are you doing? Get down, please."  
Cecily had gone about 5 meters away from him when she turned and said "Don´t worry, it´s fine." He did not feel fine but he decided not to mention that.  
"You´re going to fall in Ce-" he was too stunned to finish speaking, for Cecily was doing Cart wheels on the wall next to the river. In high heels. What the fuck? Gabriel pinched his arm, trying to figure out if he was dreaming this. Apparently he wasn´t. Cecily could by no chance be able to do cartwheels on such a slim wet wall, in high heels.  
"Cecily! Stop or you´ll fall!" he called. Cecily finished her cartwheel and stood on the wall with her arms on her sides, letting the wind cut through her clothes and ripple her hair. "What the fuck Cecily you could he broken your neck! What are you even doing? This isn´t Titanic!" Gabriel shouted. He had climbed onto the wall himself and was walking toward her. Cecily opened her eyes to find him standing right in front of her.  
She dropped her arms and pouted "You´re no fun. I´m not gonna fall in." She said. Gabriel was still staring at her incredulously.  
"This is what you do for fun?" he asked. Cecily shrugged.  
"Sometimes. Sometimes I just read a book." She commented dryly. Gabriel Lightwood was at an utter loss of words.  
Cecily smiled "It´s cute how concerned you got though." Gabriel still couldn´t think of a reply. "What the fuck..." was all he could think to say. Cecily jumped from the wall down onto the pavement and reclaimed her umbrella. Gabriel jumped down after her.  
"Never do that again!" he said and Cecily was shocked at how much genuine concern he showed.  
"Fine." She muttered. "Sorry for scaring you." She added. Gabriel looked relieved to see her back on the ground.  
They walked back in silence. They lived in the same part of town so they only had to part ways at a crossroads near their houses. When it was time for them to go their separate ways, Gabriel and Cecily faced each other awkwardly.  
"So, new years at yours then?" Cecily asked.  
Gabriel smiled down at her. "Yeah. See you then." He said, awkwardly.  
"Give me your phone." She ordered. Gabriel handed his phone to her hoping that she wouldn´t run away with it. She added her number to his contacts and handed the phone back.  
"Call me." She said, before rising onto her toe tips and giving him a kiss on the cheek.  
"I will." He promised as she´d already turned and started walking away.  
When he lloked down at his phone she saw that Cecily had called the contact "Girlfriend" instead of Cecily. He smiled, tugging his phone back into his pocket. And turned to go home, whistling a Christmas carol. 

**AN: I have no idea what happened there. Cartwheels on a wall seemed like a good plot at that time... Whatever. Hope you enjoy, please leave a review. XOXO SillyGeekyMe**


	4. Family trouble

Chapter 4: Family trouble

After Cecily had returned home, she found her parents, Will and Tessa sitting at the dinner table, drinking tea. All the guests had left already.  
"Good evening." Cecily announced. Her family looked up, her parents and Will were scowling, while Tessa was shooting anxious glances between Will and Tessa.  
"Sit down Cecy." Her father said. He didn´t sound angry, but his eyes said: _or I´ll make you!_ So Cecily sat down, her expression neutral. Cecily´s mother was the first to speak.  
"Cecily, we´re worried that your relationship with that Lightwood boy might have a bad influence on you." Cecily pretended to be aghast at this accusation. Of course she had known that her family would have an intervention when she returned home. She wasn´t going to tell them that there was no relationship with 'that Lightwood boy', thus giving away her plan of annoying them, so she feigned surprise.  
"Excuse me?" she exclaimed. 'I should consider a career as an actress.' Cecily thought. Her father then joined in on the discussion.  
"As you know, Gabriel Lightwood and your brother had a fight when they were younger and we still think that the boy is a threat to society." Cecily almost laughed at that.  
"I seem to recall that Will was the one who insulted Gabriel´s sister, which is why Gabriel sought a fight at all. And as far as I know Will broke Gabriel´s arm. I´d say Will´s the bigger threat to anyone." Cecily said. She was surprised how easy it was to defend Gabriel. But then again, she was right, wasn´t she? She knew it wasn´t Gabriel´s fault.  
Will then started yelling at her in Welsh. Tessa stared in confusion as the Herondale siblings had a shouting match in Welsh. Their parents were now also yelling at them to calm down.  
Cecily and Will shouted at each other  
"He´s not a worm!" "You don´t know what he wants from you!" "Not everything´s about you!" "He´s filthy!"  
The fight continued until both Herondale children were standing with their hands on the table, glaring at each other. It abruptly ended when Will said:  
"You can´t seriously be so naive as to believe that he could actually love you!" and Cecily had run to her room.  
Will sat back down, realising what he had said and how insulting it had been to Cecily. His parents looked stunned. Tessa, who had only heard the last part of the argument, said "You know you ought to go after her and apologize." Will shook his head. "Tomorrow; she´ll lock herself up and won´t listen." Tessa nodded. "Let´s go to bed then." She said and got up, wishing good night to Will´s parents.

 **AN: So I wanted this chapter to be longer but I just have to post this now cos I´m going on holiday in like 2 days and I just wanted this up so you have something. I´ll try to write on holiday but I won´t be able to upload. Thanks for reading and please leave a review. XOXO, SillyGeekyMe**


	5. Lightwood thoughts

Chapter 5:

It started raining as Gabriel Lightwood walked home. Gabriel didn´t mind the rain. He just lowered his gaze to the street to avoid getting rain into his eyes and sped up his pace. He reached the Lightwood manner after only a couple of minutes. The house was a pompous building from Victorian times. The front door consisted of two wings of thick slabs of dark oak wood. Gabriel pushed the right wing open; it creaked, the sound familiar to Gabriel after growing up in this house. The entry hall was a large room with a tall ceiling. He shrugged off his coat and hung it on a coat hanger.

He made his way to his room, his steps sounding unusually loud on the wooden floor. When he got to his room, he opened the door as quietly as possible, since he didn't feel like interacting with any of his family members. He closed the door behind himself and thought about what to do next.

Was it too early to call Cecily? Probably. She probably didn't really like him and only gave him her number so he could tell her the details of the new years party. He hoped that wasn't true, but he was also never sure about what was going on in Cecily´s head. He felt like maybe she was really just trying to piss off her brother, but then she was so genuinely nice and funny when she talked to him… He just didn't get her.

He was afraid when school started again, Cecily would just ignore him. He didn't want her to ignore him, but he also didn't want to seem needy or clingy. He had a reputation at school. ‚Gabriel Lightwood, the 1-month-relationship-guy'. It wasn't a reputation he was particularly proud of, but it had stuck over the years. It was true that he had never had a relationship that lasted longer than a month, but it was usually because the girls he dated were only in it for the money. His family was rich, which was evident from the clothes he wore. But Cecily´s family was also pretty rich. Not as rich as the Lightwoods, but not poor either. Her father had a habit of playing cards, which is where a lot of their money went.

Gabriel sat down on the edge of his bed. He checked his phone, but he had no new messages. Just as he was about to go to the kitchen to get a tea, there was a knock on his door.

„Come in!" Gabriel called as his brother Gideon threw the door opened and entered.

„Hello Gabriel. Glad you´re home." Gideon´s voice sounded strained and tight.

„Is something wrong Gideon?" Gabriel asked, concerned.

„Well, it´s not really wrong, I just think you might not be pleased."

„What is it?" Gabriel was confused, but glad that nothing was wrong.

„I´m moving out. I've found a house in Chiswick for me and Sophie. I´ll be gone by February." he explained.

Gabriel gaped at his brother. This was extremely unexpected for Gabriel. His brother had always been around,except for his gap year in Spain. But of course it made sense that he would move in with his girlfriend Sophie.

„That´s… great." Gabriel said with a strained smile. He didn´t know what to feel.

„I´m glad you´re alright with it. I was worried you might be bothered." Gideon grinned.

„Oh no, I´m happy for you." Gabriel said and Gideon grinned even wider.

 **AN: I haven´t updated in a while but sometimes you just need some distance from a story to keep it going, you know? Probably not. Anyway the next chapter might take a while to be uploaded as well because the last few weeks I took a lot of exams and starting next week I´m taking the second round of exams. I also just want to read a book because the last time I actually finished a book was September. XOXO Embracethemystery (I changed my username!)**


	6. Back to school

**Chapter 6:**

 **Cecily**

The holidays had passed as soon as they´d come. Cecily was not motivated to go back to school at all. During the holidays she had spoken to Gabriel a lot. It turned out that they actually had a lot in common. They both liked sport, Cecily playing Hockey while Gabriel was into Basketball. Gabriel was actually really nice and whenever they spent time together, Cecily felt she could be herself. They had been spending the evenings at each others homes, going on walks, going running, studying together or going into town for a night out. Apart from that, they had been texting each other.

Will and her parents still couldn't believe that he was her boyfriend and she had no intention of telling them that they were technically just pretending. Neither of them had considered that they might actually become friends.  
Gabriel wasn't the kind of person Cecily usually ran with. Most of her friends were the class-clowns, the trouble makers. Gabriel was actually two years older than her and was in his last year at the school. Because of this they had ignored each other for the most part. Both of their families were part of the London high-society and therefore they saw each other at awkward parties or weddings of mutual family friends. She had never really talked to Gabriel much. Will had always talked shit about him so Cecily had just stayed away. She had occasionally talked to Gabriel's older brother Gideon. He was nice and she knew his girlfriend, Sophie.

Now she thought about what might happen at school today. She felt like she had really become good friends with Gabriel, but she didn´t know if she should speak to him at school. His friends were all very posh, posher even than her. As far as she could tell, most of his friends were male, apart from a couple of girls who were dating his male friends. Her friends were mainly female, most boys in her class were far too immature for her. She decided to just go to school and see what would happen.

They went to a private school near Westminster Abbey. Cecily didn't actually like school. She liked learning, but London's high society wasn´t something she enjoyed. Of course she was grateful for all the opportunities she had because of her money, but it was so fake.

When she had told Gabriel, he had felt the same. He might be arrogant and posh, but he did appreciate the simple things.

In the morning, Cecily and Will always drove to school together in Will's BMW. Will was talking about how he and Tessa would move out soon. Cecily didn´t really like the thought of a house without Will in it. Even if they never got along, she couldn´t fathom not seeing him every day.

She swallowed the thoughts about Will moving out. They got to the school and Cecily and Will walked towards the entrance together, comparing their morning classes, talking about how tired they were.

As soon as they entered the school, Will was on his way to meet his best Friend Jem, who had been away for the holidays. Cecily looked around and saw her friends standing together. She made her way toward them. Once she reached them they all hugged and exchanged the normal small talk questions like "What have you been up to over the holidays?" and standard answers such as "The usual stuff." Soon after that, Cecily's best friend, Nathalie, arrived. She participated in the small talk for a bit, then grabbed Cecily by the arm and pulled her away to a quieter spot.

"What's up?" Cecily asked, thinking nothing of it.

"Okay, don´t get me wrong, but I heard that you're dating Gabriel Lightwood! Why didn´t you tell me?" she said, smiling giddily.

"First of all, who did you hear that from. Second, we´re not really dating but we´re pretending to to piss off our families."

"Seriously? Ohmygoodness. Well, Kelly saw the two of you running together and she said you looked bloody well in love so she called me and I said I didn´t know anything, but I´d ask you as soon as I got back so here we are." Nat had been with her family in Wales over the holidays. Cecily's family was from Wales as well. Sometimes they spoke Welsh, just because they could.

"Well, we did go running but we´re not in love. I was just really pissed cos my family kept pressing about my boyfriend, so I asked Gabriel to come to our Christmas party and he said he'd come if I went to his New Year's party. So we did that and then we just kinda kept hanging out, y' know? He´s actually really nice." She explained.

"What did Will say?" she asked, knowing how Will hated Gabriel.

"Well, he…" Cecily was cut off by the school bell. Classes had started.

"Tell you later." She said and they made their way to their first class.

As they walked up the stairs, Cecily caught sight of Gabriel. He looked over and gave her a smile, which she returned, her stomach feeling itchy on the inside.

 **A/N: So I remembered this Fic… sorry for not updating. But here we are. I might write more soon.**


	7. Who are you smiling at?

Chapter 7:

Gabriel

Gabriel was walking up the staircase to his first class, maths, hen he caught sight of Cecily walking up another staircase. His stomach summersaulted, scared of her reaction when she saw him. Would she ignore him? What should he do? Wave? Nod?

When she did meet his eyes he couldn't help but smile. It was just his natural reaction. He was relieved when she smiled back at him. His best friend, Chris, nudged him with his elbow.

"Who are you smiling at there?" he was smirking. Shit.

"Nobody." Gabriel answered, turning his head hastily.

"Bullshit." Chris noted. Gabriel realised his friend would not stop annoying him if he didn't tell him something.

Should he tell him the truth? Chris was the most honest person he knew and he would definitely not condone lying to his family. But he couldn't very well lie to cover up the fact that he was lying. Best to tell him the truth.

"I'll explain later. It's complicated." Gabriel said.

"Okay."

They went to class talking about the holidays.

Maths class was easy for Gabriel so he was not worried at all about his upcoming final exams. He was very bored, though.

As he solved the problems he found his mind wandering back to Cecily's texts. She was clever and funny and so unique. Gabriel couldn't believe he used to not like her just because of her brother. That thought reminded him that Will would be in his next class. Shit.

He pushed aside the thought and focused on the tasks again. Before he knew it the lesson was over and Chris was waiting for him to finish packing up his stuff.

They walked out together and Chris looked at Gabriel with raised eyebrows.

"So?" he asked as they walked outside for their break.

"Okay, but you mustn't tell anyone." Gabriel made him promise. He couldn't risk anyone knowing what he was pretending, or that he was actually friends with Cecily.

Chris promised and Gabriel told him everything that had happened and the friendship he'd struck with Cecily as a result.

Chris stared at him the whole time. When he was done, Chris stood up and started pacing.

"Now you know." Gabriel said, trying to break the silence between them.

"Yeah." Chris answered.

"Do you like her?" Chris asked.

"Do you mean as a friend?" Gabriel asked back.

"No."

"I don't know. I like her as a friend and I don't want to not be friends with her. I think she might just leave if I said I wanted anything but friendship from her."

"True. And you'll be gone by this summer. We're off to Uni next year and she's here for, what, another two years?" Chris asked.

"Yeah. I can't tell her." They both nodded and Chris clapped Gabriel on the shoulder before picking up his bag and heading back inside.

Gabriel stood there for another second, trying to convince himself that it was for the better.

Still, he couldn't quite silence the voice in his head that was asking what would be if she felt the same way.


	8. Confession and Denial

Chapter 8:

Cecily

After two hours back at school, Cecily seriously wished she could go back to the holidays.

Of course she had enjoyed talking to her friends again, but if she had really wanted to talk to them, she would have called them.

The only person Cecily had really missed was her best friend, Nathalie. Nathalie demanded for Cecily to spill everything in the 15 minute break they had. Cecily obliged, telling her best friend about her idea, striking the deal with Gabriel Lightwood, being distant at first but becoming real friends, being pleased and disappointed at Will's reaction, the way it was easy to talk to Gabriel and how he actually got her the way few people did. Nathalie listened the whole time, a pleased smirk on her lips and occasionally gasping. When Cecily finished her recount of events, Nathalie was silent for ten seconds, before slapping Cecily's arm and screeching "You're in loooooove!". Cecily stared at her. "Did you not hear the 'We're pretending' part?" Cecily asked.

"Of course, but that doesn't change the fact that you're actually super into him and I know you, Cecy and this is not what you do when you like a guy as a friend. You want this to be real."

Cecily just shook her head; they were about to go back inside.

"First of all: I don't like him like that. Second: He's going to be gone next year, off to some posh University and then I'd be without a brother and a boyfriend but no one would want to date me because everyone would know that I'd still be hung up on Gabriel fucking Lightwood." Cecily hadn't even known she was thinking that until she'd said it.

"Oh, Honey. Since when do you care whether people date you or not? You're Cecily Herondale! Imagine if you were dating Gabriel! He would be so sweet and such a good boyfriend!" said Nathalie.

"Wow, since when are you a member of the Gabriel Lightwood fanclub?" Cecy laughed.

The bell rang and they headed back inside, still chatting.

"I'm just trying to convince you that it would be great for you! You've already seen that your family won't disown you; you know he's a great guy; you know he likes you-"

"I don't know if he likes me!" Cecily said, trying to keep her voice down. Nothing in this school stayed secret.

"You know he likes you as a friend and if he's gotten that far I'm sure it won't be such a big jump to dating you. I mean you're great!" said Nathalie.

Cecily snorted.

"Maybe I'll date you instead." She said and Nathalie laughed. "I wish, girl!"

Cecily laughed as well. Nathalie knew Cecily was straight, so she would never seriously hit on her.

They went back into the class, Cecily ending the discussion.

"Well, I won't make a move. It's not worth risking the end of our friendship. And I do not like him. But even if I did, I wouldn't act on it. So drop it."

Nathalie did, eventually.


	9. Going home

Chapter 9

Gabriel

Gabriel was not paying attention to his lessons. It was half past 1 and the whole class was waiting for the day to end. It had been two weeks since he'd gone back to school and he had not gotten used to it. He was on his third coffee of the day and still couldn't focus on what the teacher was saying. Next to him, Chris was doodling little stars on his English notes.

"Gabriel, what was your takeaway from this chapter?" the teacher asked.

Gabriel blinked in shock. He had no idea which chapter they were on, let alone what he was supposed to take away from it. Two rows behind him, he could hear Will Herondale snickering. Gabriel looked at his copy of the book, as if the answer would be written on the cover.

"Some offers are too good to be true" Chris whispered to him, obviously he'd paid more attention than Gabriel had given him credit for.

"I think the chapter taught me that some offers are too good to be true and you shouldn't trust them easily," said Gabriel.

The teacher looked disappointed, as if she wanted Gabriel to admit he wasn't listening.

Fair enough, thought Gabriel.

The lesson continued and Gabriel went back to looking out of the window absentmindedly.

Once the lesson ended, Gabriel was up and gone sooner than he'd ever been.

He was out of the school in a matter of seconds.

It was colder outside than the last two weeks and Gabriel bundled his coat tighter around himself. Gabriel started walking towards the underground station. He usually enjoyed walking, but when it got cold, he took the tube every now and then.

"Hey, Lightwood!" Someone shouted. Gabriel stopped and turned around. Cecily was hurrying towards him.

"Cecily," Gabriel was surprised to see her. She usually went home with her brother.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

Cecily smiled, her blue eyes lighting up as she did.

"I thought I'd take the tube home with you." She said. Gabriel frowned. It made no sense for her to take the same underground line as he did.

"Okay, Will went to Jem's house and I don't want to walk on my own." She confessed.

Gabriel smiled. He enjoyed spending time with her, even if his stomach felt as if it was twisting.

"Well then, I'll bring you home." He said.

On the tube, they whispered about other people, making up stories. They laughed a lot, too. Cecily did a little snort when she laughed, which Gabriel thought was adorable. Sooner than he liked, they reached Cecily's stop and Gabriel went off with her to walk her to her house.

"You don't have to walk me, you know." Cecily said. She sounded a bit annoyed, but Gabriel figured she wasn't really mad.

"I don't have anything better to do." He said. As a matter of fact, he had to do quite a lot of studying for his final exams. He told himself that he needed a break and walking Cecily home would clear his mind.

Cecily shrugged and they walked on.

"Your brother's moving out soon, right?" she asked.

Gabriel felt his heart beat painfully.

"Yes, in a week."

Cecily nodded. She had a strange look on her face.

"Why do you ask?" he pried.

Cecily shook her head. "Oh, just out of general interest…" Cecily stammered.

Gabriel knew she was lying but he didn't know whether to press her on it or not.

"Why do you really ask?" Gabriel was curious now.

Cecily let out a long breath. She hated talking about her emotions.

"It's just that… Will is moving out soon, too. He's going to move in with his fiancée, which is great for them, but… I don't know how to feel about it. I don't want him to move out and I feel bad about it, because it's normal. So, I should be happy for them, but I'm not." She confessed. Gabriel nodded. "I know how you feel." He said.

He wanted to say something to comfort her, but he felt like he would only make the situation worse. After all, he was leaving for Uni soon as well.

They walked in silence and sooner than Gabriel would have liked, they had reached Cecily's house.

"Well, you know, even when we're not here anymore, you'll still be able to talk to us." Gabriel said.

Cecily smiled. "I know that. And I am grateful for it."

They exchanged goodbyes and Gabriel made his way over to his house on foot.


	10. The end

Chapter 10

Cecily

"Why the hell are boys so fucking complicated?" Cecily complained, throwing herself on her best friend's bed. Nathalie swivelled around in her desk chair, her hands folded in her lap, her face twisted into a pleased smirk. "So you do admit to liking him?" she asked, but she might as well have danced in a circle singing 'I told you so'. Cecily looked up at her best friend, then grabbed one of the pillows and borrowed her face in it.

"Don't get make up on my pillow," Nathalie warned.

"Instead, tell me what happened to make you realise how utterly in love you are with the one and only Gabriel Lightwood!" Cecily only groaned in response.

She sat up, dragging the pillow into her lap.

"Okay, so Will didn't drive me, so I took the tube with _him_. I thought it would just be nice time to spend with a friend. Then when I got off of the tube, he came with me and told me he wanted to walk me home! Walk me home! Who even does that?" Cecily fell back on the bed and Nathalie made a tsk tsk sound.

"I told you, you're meant to be together." She said.

Nathalie got up and took Cecily's phone.

"What are you doing?" Cecily asked, alarmed.

"I'm texting him. You guys need to talk." Nathalie was indeed typing away at Cecily's phone.

Cecily tried to snatch the phone away, but Nathalie got up before she could stretch far enough. When Nathalie had pressed send, she handed the phone back to Cecily.

 _Hey! Can you meet me on Millennium Bridge tonight at 8? We need to talk._

Cecily read the text twice.

"Why the fuck would we meet on Millennium Bridge?" she asked and her friend shrugged in response.

"It's a romantic spot. You can see St. Paul's and the tower and the shard… It's my favourite spot here. I just thought it'd be cute. Call me a romantic."

Cecily rolled her eyes, but she decided to go with it. She hadn't originally wanted to say anything about her feelings to Gabriel, but she had been so confused recently that she thought a confrontation could not hurt her. Gabriel would be gone soon anyway and she needed to know where they stood, before he left her and she was never certain what had happened between them.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when her phone buzzed. Nathalie snatched it before she could look at Gabriel's response, but from Nathalie's squeal she could almost guess that he had agreed.

"He said 'yeah sure, is something wrong?'; how cute!" Nathalie was practically bouncing with excitement. Cecily wasn't quite as enthusiastic, but her stomach did a little tumble at his answer. Nathalie quickly texted to tell Gabriel that everything was fine and for the next half hour they discussed what Cecily should say to him.

When it was time to go, Nathalie made Cecily promise to call her immediately after the meeting and tell her everything that had happened.

Cecily agreed and made her way to the tube.

When she arrived on Millennium Bridge, it was 5 past 8 and Gabriel was already standing halfway across the bridge near one of the people selling sugary almonds. Cecily walked across the bridge briskly, determined to just get it over with. She would tell Gabriel how she felt and after that everything would be okay. When she was about 5 feet away from Gabriel ha looked up from the water and smiled at her.

"Hey!" he said and she greeted him, smiling.

They turned back to the water, standing next to each other, shoulders touching. The sun had already gone down and they could see the city lights on either side of the river. Cecily took a deep breath. She felt as if she had something lodged in her throat, keeping her from breathing and talking. Gabriel looked over at her.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" he asked.

Cecily breathed in again and decided to just get it over with.

"Gabriel, I like you. As more than a friend."

Gabriel didn't react at all for a moment and Cecily felt like it was an eternity. She blinked once. Twice. Gabriel looked at her. Cecily breathed out.

Suddenly, Gabriel took her face in his hands and kissed her.

Cecily was surprised, but she kissed him back. She felt a huge weight fall off of her chest as she wound her arms around Gabriel's neck.

When they pulled apart, they were both smiling.

"I like you, too." He said and Cecily laughed. And suddenly, he was all she needed.

"You're the reason why I smile all the time." She told him.

 **AN/ Hey Everyone! I hope you enjoyed this story. This was the last chapter for now, but if anyone wants more Gabrily you can follow my writing. I'm working on some one shots right now and I will definitely go down with this ship. Follow me on social media, the names are in my profile. I hope you all have a great new year!**


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